Whether made with cheese or chocolate, fondue has a kind of cheesy, finicky reputation. But in spite of its kitsch, dipping bits of food in gooey, melted fromage or dark, liquid chocolate makes for a fun, flirty, surprisingly low-effort meal.

I love a Whitman’s sampler, but I buy those for myself February 15th, at Walgreens, when they are half-off. Though I’m not one to turn down a box of chocolate on Valentine’s Day, giving them can feel a little impersonal, and we can do better.

It’s a pretty popular culinary opinion that everyone should own a cast iron pan, but I am of the opinion that everyone should also own a mini cast iron pan. Like its classic, 12-inch counterpart, the mini has a myriad of delicious uses from appetizers to dessert. Here are my favorites:

The wedding cake has been around for centuries, which is probably just about as long as creative about-to-be-marrieds have tried to jazz theirs up a bit. Recently, the cupcake-tree wedding cake has made some inroads, but there’s a new savory trend that sounds ideal for those who favor dairy over sugar: the…

I am an equal opportunity macaroni eater. I like it baked. I like it made with a roux. I even like it out of the blue box. You may think the convenience of Kraft can’t be beat, but you’d be wrong. This homemade recipe comes together in about 15 minutes, with only one pot (which you don’t have to drain) and no roux.

The food chain is such a fascinating process, isn’t it? Particularly the way certain ecosystems affect each other, like grass-fed beef offering more nutrients than cattle raised on grain. Or, on the dark side of that cycle, when an invasive species can really fuck with your production process, like these greedy wild…

There is no such thing as “leftover cheese” but, if you are a cheese collector such as myself, you probably find yourself with little nubs and ends of various dairy treasures. You could keep making increasingly tiny cheese plates, or you could make fromage fort, also known as “snobby DIY Boursin.”

I can’t remember a Christmas dinner without a lasagna on the table. This is largely due, in part, to watery sauce with pasta and cheese sort of floating in it, but it’s also just always been there (paired with an overcooked rib roast, of course). That meal, the last big holiday meal for many families, deserves better.

It’s very easy to get excited at the cheese counter, and that excitement can lead to purchasing more cheese than one can (comfortably) eat in a single evening. As such, some cheese must be stored, but it must not be stored directly in plastic.

Grapes are great, but I like ‘em fresh and firm. The moment they start to mush out, I lose interest, and let them languish in my crisper until they’re “bad enough” to toss. This terrible cycle has since been broken, however, as I have discovered roasted grapes.

Chipotle is now serving queso and, if Twitter is to be believed, no one is impressed. I probably could have taken their word for it, but I am a “journalist” damn it, so I traipsed to the (very recently installed) Chipotle near me and ordered a cup of the dip.